Instinet launches Australian dark pool

Electronic trading and brokerage giant Instinet has launched a liquidity pool for Australian equities.

The BLX Australia dark pool aggregates multiple orders from both buy- and sell-side participants and consolidates them into block-sized trades.

Matthew Moore, head, Australian sales, Instinet, says: "With the Australian equities market becoming more electronic and institutional trading needs becoming more complex, we believe this is an ideal time to introduce a pool like BLX that combines the benefits of both block and continuous trading."

The dark pool's launch comes shortly after Chi-X - controlled by Instinet owner Nomura - received a licence to run a trading platform in Australia, set for launch later this year.